Report on Design of Clean Energy System Solar Energy & Conversion Technique

Submitted by Adi Hafriz Bin Azman (U1021143G) Mohammad Nazim Bin Atan (U1022421D) Group F13(1330 1630)
19th April 2013

S2-B5C-02

School of Electrical & Electronic Engineering

Table of Contents
List Of Figures..i Abstract........ii Acknowledgment........iii Chapter 1 Introduction....1 1.1 Objective...3

Chapter 2 Solar Panel....4 2.1 Choosing of Solar Panel....4 2.2 Sizing of Solar Panel....9 2.3 Solar Panel Circuit Design....10 2.4 Circuit Result....14 Chapter 3 DC-DC converter..15 3.1 DC-DC Sepic Converter.......16 3.2 Component Parameter........19 3.3 Ripple Factor Of SEPIC Converter......20 3.4 Gate Driver for SEPIC Converter.....21 CHAPTER 4 MPPT SYSTEM ..22 4.1 MPPT Controller....23 4.2 Perturb & Observe (P&O) Algorithm25 4.3 Hardware Aspects Of Controller28 Chapter 5 Battery..31 Conclusion......34 Future Recommendation...35 References.......36 Appendix.......37

List Of Figures
Figure 1: Solar cell....1 Figure 2: Solar Panel Connection....3 Figure 3: Solar Circuit.3 Figure 4: Solar Panel....4 Figure 5: 3-tier of Solar Panel.5 Figure 6: V-I curve..8 Figure 7: Chosen Solar Panel....9 Figure 8: Single Cell Circuit Design...10 Figure 9: Proposed PWL Model of PV cell.10 Figure 10: Solar Panel in Parallel....13 Figure 11: Solar Panel Result.....14 Figure 12: Sepic DC-DC Converter with Resistor...16 Figure 13: Basic Structure of SEPIC Converter....17 Figure 14: SEPIC Converter when Q1 is OFF.....18 Figure 15: SEPIC Converter when Q1 is ON.......19 Figure 16: SEPIC Plus MPPT........22 Figure 17: Description Of MPPT System......23 Figure 18: MMPT...24 Figure 19: Logic Gates....24 Figure 20: Result.25 Figure 21: Result Table...27 Figure 22: MPPT Waveform...27 Figure 23: LM318 Op-Amp.....28 Figure 24: General Circuit....28 Figure 25: LM318 Datasheet....29 Figure 26: LM311 Op-Amp..30 Figure 27: Powersonic Battery..31 Figure 28: Battery PSIM Circuit...31 Figure 29: Overall Charging Result......33

Abstract
The main purpose of this design project is to design a solar cell that will be able to charge a Powersonic battery with specification of 12V and 30Ah. In this project, we used PSIM software as a stimulator to stimulate the behavior of the design circuit. Solar panel is using an abundant and free energy source which is the light energy from the sun to generate electricity. Although it require raw materials to manufacture the solar panel however it can be consider as a clean and renewable source of energy which produces electricity at a large quantity without harming the environment. The advantage of solar panel is its durability which can last till about 10-30 years. The electricity generated from solar panel could be converted to either DC or AC supply. However, in this project the solar panel will be connected to SEPIC DC/DC converter, which needed to convert the voltage and current based on the requirement of the load. To enhance the output power from the solar panel, we used MPPT circuit which will be implemented and extract the maximum possible output power from the solar panel. In this project also, we are not only design the solar circuit but we also need to figure out the correct rating and sizing of the components for the circuit.

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Acknowledgment
We would like to take this oppurnity to express our greatest gratitude to A/P Ali I. Maswood for sharing his knowledge to us. With his guidance and experience, we managed to solve all the problems that we faced during the design course. Lastly, I would like to extend my gratitude to the PHD students for giving support and explaining to us further regarding certain matter. This had been a memorable experience because we studied and designed a green technology which could help the environment ans society.

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Chapter 1 Introduction
Solar panel is a collection of solar cells which convert light into electricity. It is a device which capture free energy from the most powerful source source of light which is the sun. Solar panel is very handy and wear out very slowly where their effectiveness decreases around 1 -2% a year. [1] Solar panel is equipped with a lot of small solar cells which spread over a large area and work together to provide enough power. More light energy hits a cell which lead to more electricity it produce. Solar cells which also known as photovoltaic (PV) cell as shown in figure 1, are an electrical device that able to convert light energy to electricity by the photovoltaic effect. Photovoltaic effect is the ability of matter to emit electrons when a light is shown on it. It is necessary to connect a number of cells together known as photovoltaic module. There are two types of PV cell: Dye-sensitised which is cheap to produce and flexible and single-crystal silicon which is expensive to manufacure but is used widespread.

Figure 1: Solar cell (Source: http://www.vst-inc.com )

Solar efficiency refers to the amount of ambient light that will be converted into usable electricity. There are two ways to evaluate the solar efficiency whch are the solar cell efficiency and solar panel efficiency. Solar cell efficiency is the amount of light that the individual solar cell converts to electricity. Solar cells are actually placed next to one another on top of a backsheet and covered by glass to make up a solar panel. Solar panel efficiency refers to the amount of light that the entire module able to convert to electricty. Usually, the efficiency of a solar panel is lower than that of a solar cell due to the spacing between cells and because the glass covering reflects away some of the sunlight. [2] A high efficiency solar panels able to generate more electricity with fewer solar panels, which makes the solar panel smaller which then requires less space to install. Factors that affect the solar efficiency: Panel orientation A solar panel will be install with a fixed direction

however a quality design can often compensate for other directions. Roof and Panel Pitch The tilt angle of the roof can affect the number of that automatically follow the suns tilt throught the day.

hours of sunlight receive and large commercial systens have solar tracking systems

Shade This factor will downgrade the efficiecy of the solar panel. Even a

little shade on one panel can shut down the energy production on all of the other panels. Figure 2 below shows the overall connection of solar panel system. The sunlight will provide light energy to the solar panel where the solar panel will convert the light energy to electricity which will then be transferred to a charge controller. Therefore the charge controller will then provide energy to the battery system to either provide a DC power to AC power.

Figure 2: Solar Panel Connection (Source: solarpanelswers.blogspot.sg )

1.2 Objective
Our obejctive is to design a 1 unit of solar panel which able to charge up a 12-V Powersonic Battery rated with 30 ampere-hour(Ah). We will be designing, developing and implementing a suitable DC-DC buck book or buck-boost converter to supply the battery load. We also will be using a Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT) circuit to extract the maximum power from the solar panel. Beside designing the circuits, we also need to determine the material and sizing of the components that will be instal in our design circuit. We will be using PSIM software as the simulator to determine the response and behavior of the circuit. The overall circuit could be shown in Figure 3 below.

Figure 3: Solar Circuit (Source: EE4504 lecture notes)

Chapter 2 Solar Panel

Figure 4: Solar Panel (Source: www.mrsolar.com )

The sun is one of the best green sources of electricity. Solar panels can be used to harness that power to generate electricity. Solar panel is made of number of silicon panels placed together under a glass substrate. Silicon is a very good conductor but doesnt have the ability to produce electrons when light strikes its surface. In order to generate electricity, a flow of electrons and impurities are introduced into the silicon used. [3]

2.1 Choosing of Solar Panel

There are many different types of solar panels in the market and each of solar panels have their own unique specification. In order to choose the best and efficient solar panel, we need to know how it is manufactured and what type of

materials are used on making the solar panel. Figure 5 below shows that there are 3 tiers of defining the quality of the solar panel.

Figure 5: 3-tier of Solar Panel (Source: http://www.energymatters.com.au ) Tier one: Company is using the best grade of silicon to produce solar cells where the higher the silicon grade, the longer the solar cell will last and the efficiency of the solar cells is much higher. Tier two: Manufacturers who invest on less in research and development

are reliant on both robotic and manual work on production lines and have often been in solar panel manufacture for a long period of time. Therefore, this manufacturers able to produce good panels at good prices.

Tier three: In this tier, it encompasses 90% of new solar PV manufacturer.

These companies assemble panels only where they dont usually manufacture their own cells and this companies unable to produce high quality solar panel. [4] Beside the three tiers which defines the quality of the solar panel, there are also some other factors which are: Temperature co-efficient: This is important to determine what the impact heat as on a solar panels operation after installation. The lower the percentage per degree celsius, the better. Conversion efficiency: The efficiency of how a solar panel converts light into electrical energy will determine how much power the system generates.

Durability/warranty: The durability of a solar panel is important because it can be an indicator of the manufacturers confidence in its products. It is important to select a well-known brand of solar panel rather than an obscure low-cost brand that maybe disappear overnight. If we do strike a problem on the solar panel, the turnaround time to a resolution will be far faster.

Size and watts: The size of the solar panel depends in watts which will directly affect the cost, as solar panels are usually priced in dollars per watt. The price of 200watt is somehow double to the price of 100watt. The output of a panel will affect the physical size of the panel means a 200watt panel will be much larger than 100watt.

 The type of solar cells used in its production also determines the size of the solar panel. The key issue to consider is that your system sizing is enough to power the appliances and solar panels are physically fit in the area wish to install them.[4] Types of solar cells used: Monocrystalline silicon: offers high efficiency and good heat tolerance characteristics in small footprint. Polycrystalline or multi-crystalline silicon: The most popular choice in residential installs. Recent improvments result in development of modules equal to or better than many monocrystalline brands in terms of size, efficiency and heat tolerance. Amorphous or thin-film silicon: The least amount of silicon. While some thin film panels are among the least efficiency solar cells which offers the highest conversion efficiency of any massproduced thin-film module.[4]

Beside all the mechanical aspects of a solar panel, there are another two important quantities which characterize a solar cell which are: Open Circuit Voltage, and Short Circuit Current, .

Open Circuit Voltage: The voltage between the terminals when no current is drawn (infinte load resistance). Short Circuit Current: The current when the terminals are connected to each other (Zero load resistance). [6]

The short circuit current is due to the generation and collection of lightgenerated carriers. For an ideal solar cell at most moderate resistive loss mechanisms, the short circuit current and the light-generated current are identical. Therefore, the Short circuit current is the largest which can be drawn from the solar cell. [7] Short circuit current increases with light intensity, as higher intensity means more photons which lead to electrons increment. Since the the area of the solar cell, the short circuit current density, compare the solar cells because . [6] , is proportional to , is often used to

When load is connected to the solar cell, the current will begin to decrease and a voltage develops as charge builds up at the terminals. From the current density we can then find out the Open Circuit Voltage where the expression is as follows:

Figure 6: V-I curve (source: www.pveducation.org )

2.2 Sizing of Solar Panel

Figure 7: Chosen Solar Panel (Source: http://www.power-on-demand.com )

In this project design, we shall be using a 100W solar panel. The output current is 5.7A therefore we require 6 solar modules to be connected in parallel to produce an output current of 30A. When connecting the solar panel module in parallel, the output current will increase while the output voltage will remain constant. Whereas, when connecting the solar panel module in series, the output voltage will increase while the output current will remain constant. The overall connection of the solar module actually depends on the purpose of the solar panel. If the solar panel is design to supply to a high voltage device, therefore a series connection is recommended but if the solar panel is design to supply a high current device, a parallel connection is recommended. The reason we chose this solar panel because it manufacture from a trusted company therefore if our solar panel meet any problem we can rely on the company to resolve the solution. We chose a smaller solar panel with smaller output power than a higher output power because we believe that with smaller solar panel we able to replace the module faster and cheaper when compared to 9

a bigger solar panel and a problematic smaller solar panel will not affect the output rating than a bigger solar panel. Figure 7 solar panel is made of monocrystalline cells which known for its high efficiency and good heat tolerance. Since, Singapore is in a tropical region therefore a solar panel which have a good heat tolerance will be a big advantage in a tropical climate.

2.3 Solar Panel Circuit Design

Figure 8: Single Cell Circuit Design ( source: EE4504 lecture notes )

Figure 9: Proposed PWL Model of PV cell

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Figure 8 illustrates a single cell circuit design which compromise of diodes and resistors. When exposed to light, a current proportional to solar irradiance isgenerated. Each diode is modelled as simple piecewise linear (PWL) as a voltage controlled resistor with two states ON and OFF as shown in figure 8. The V-I curve of the diode of the PV cell is approximated and divided into several segments. The PWL model of the PV cell can be improved by approximating the curve with more segments by connecting more diofes in parallel with suitable values of series resistance. [5] In this design project, we will be using a Bulk PV model where the Solar Panel data in figure 7 are used to scale up the model for the overall PV panel.

When the generated voltage is less than VDC1, all diodes are off and no current flows throught the diodes. The current is nearly constant in this segment. Diode D1 is on. Since the PV current fails from 6.2A to 5.7A, thus the current through diode D1 is 0.5A. For calculating of R1:

For calculating of R2: Diodes D1 and D2 are ON. Therefore, the current through D1 is calculated as follows:

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Since the output current is taken as 3.7A which is approximately 2A or 1.5A lesser than the value of , thereofre the current through diode D2 is:

R2 is computed using the equation as shown:

For calculating R3 all diodes are ON. The output load current is Zero at open circuit point. The open circuit voltage is 21V therefore, the current through diode, D1 is:

The current through diode D2 is:

The current through diode D3 is:

Therefore, R3 is calculated as:

The voltage V1, V2 & V3 are selected as 15.75, 17.5 & 19.25 respectively. There will be parallel resistor and that resistor will be large as possible therefore, we chose 100M and 0.01 for the series connected resistor. 12

After evaluating all the parameters, we can then group all the solar panel in parallel sequence so that we could achieve the overall current of 30A which as shown in figure 7 below.

Figure 10: Solar Panel in Parallel

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2.4 Circuit Result

Figure 11: Solar Panel Result The output current from the 6 solar panel module is 35A which is sufficient enough to charge the battery. After the said output current went through the rest of the circuit, the output current is expected to drop therefore, having a little higher output current from the solar panel will not damage any component.

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Chapter 3 DC-DC converter

DCDC converter consist of passive store devices together with switches that simplify the unregulated DC input voltages conversion to a regulated DC output voltage level. This converter can be categorised by two topologies which are: isolated and non-isolated where these topologies will provide the characteristics of each converter and its output level. [9] DC-DC converters are designed to equip with LC filter to reduce the ripple content in output voltage and current. From the ripple characteristics, the converters are classified to operate in two distinct modes which are: continuous conduction mode (CCM) or Discontinuos Conduction Mode (DCM) where the load current drops to zero between the switching cycles. [9] The common isolated topologies are flyback, forward, push-pull and bridge configurations. While for non-isolated converter are buck, boost and buck-boost which are widely used in industrial DC motor drives as the configuration could provide smooth acceleration, high efficiency and fast dynamics. [9] Buck Converter

This converter compromises of two energy energy storing elements and two switches. Buck converter produces an output voltage that is lower than its input voltage. This converter is also known as step down converter. Boost Converter

This converter produce output voltage that is greater than its input voltage. The inductor and switch positions are interchanged compared to buck converters. This converter is also known as step-up converter.

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Buck-Boost Converter

This converter is a combination of the said two converters and it depends on the switching duty cycle D, buck-boost converters are able to produce an output voltage magnitude that is either greater or less than its input voltage. The output voltage produced is in opposite polarity than its input voltage. In this design, Dc-Dc converters are used to transfer energy from a solar cell to charge the battery where fixed DC output voltage and continuous load current can be obtained.

3.1 DC-DC Sepic Converter

Figure 12: Sepic DC-DC Converter with Resistor The Single-Ended Primary-Inductance Converter (SEPIC) is a DC/DC-converter topology that provides a positive regulated output voltage from an input voltage that varies from above to below the output voltage. Similar to buck-boost converter, SEPIC converter has an addition pair of energy storage devices in inductor and capacitor and the main storage device in this topology is also the capacitor. [9]

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The output voltage can be regulated by controlling the duty cycle of the switch and the duty cycle presents the ratio of the ON and OFF period for a switch in one cycle. It also allows regulation of the input voltage through controlling the duty cycle. SEPICs are useful in applications in which a battery voltage can be above and below that of the regulators intended output for example, a single lithium ion battery typically discharge from 4.2V to 3V and if other components require 3.3v then the SEPIC would be effective. SEPIC converter can be operating in two modes which are continuousconduction and discontinous conduction. In continuous conduction mode, the current through the inductor never falls to zero while in discontinuous conduction mode, the current through the inductor allow to fall to zero. The voltage drop and switching time of diode is critical to SEPICs reliability and efficiency. The diodes switching time needs to be extremely fast in order to not generate high voltage spikes across the inductors, which could damage to the component. The resistances in the inductors and the capacitors also play a major role to SEPICs effiency and ripple. Inductors with lower series resistance allow less energy to be dissipated as heat, resulting in greater efficiency. Capacitors with low equivalent series resistance should also be used to minimize ripple and heat build-up.

Figure 13: Basic Structure of SEPIC Converter (source: www.texasinstrument.com )

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Figure 9 shows the basic circuit diagram of SEPIC conveter where it consists of input capacitor , output Capacitor, and coupled inductors, L1a & L1b, AC coupling capacitor, , power FET, Q1 and diode, D1.

To understand the voltages at the various circuit nodes, we need to analyze the circuit at DC when Q1 is off and not switching. During the steady-state Continuous Conduction Mode(CCM), pulse-width modulation operation and neglecting ripple voltage is charged to input voltage, As shown in figure 10, when Q1 is off, the voltage across L1b must be is charged to , the voltage across Q1 when Q1 is off is . voltage across L1a is . Since , so the

Figure 14: SEPIC Converter when Q1 is OFF (Source: www.texasinstruments.com )

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As shown in figure 11 below, when Q1 is on, capacitor Cp, charged to connected when in parallel with L1b, so the voltage across L1b is .

is

Figure 15: SEPIC Converter when Q1 is ON (Source: www.texasinstruments.com )

3.2 Component Parameter

The value of equation below: , , and need to be determine by calculating using the

Vi=VL1 T=f-1=30000-1 D=0.5 (For the time being assume D is this value) iL1<5% of iL1 VC2<3% of VC2

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3.3 Ripple Factor Of SEPIC Converter

To define the current and voltage ripple factor of SEPIC converter is by using the following equation. Referring to the List of Figures of Inductor 1, 2 and Capacitor 1,2 in the appendix:

From here, we can deduce that the current flowing through inductor 1 is approximately 32A. In PSIM, it doesnt pose any problem in the circuitry but in real life application, it is merely impossible for a large current, lets say 30A, to pass through the inductor.

To overcome this difficulty, we can simply connect a few number of inductor 1 in parallel to prevent high current flow.

Since the inductor that we chose for inductor 1 is able to take in a D.C current of 75A, as shown in the appendix, theres no need for multiple inductors to be connected in parallel as the inductor is able to take in large amount of current flow.

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3.4 Gate Driver for SEPIC Converter

At a high frequency and very high frequency, traditional hard-switched gate drivers typically incur too much loss for acceptable efficiency. Resonant gating can reduce the gating loss significantly at these frequencies. As stated in section 3.2, we are using frequency of 30KHz which can be consider as a high frequency. We decide to use The gate driver for SEPIC converter can be found in the appendix.

There are different types of gate drivers available in the market are MOSFET and IGBT. MOSFET is a device that is voltage and not current-controlled. MOSFET switch faster and lower losses at lower current levels but it cannot withstand the high voltages than IGBT.

IGBT has the output switching and conduction characteristics of a bipolar transistor but is voltage-controlled like a MOSFET. IGBT can withstand higher voltage rating than MOSFET. However, 30KHz is a little beyond the upper limit switching of IGBT where it is well also under the switching speed for MOSFET.

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CHAPTER 4 MPPT SYSTEM

Solar cells must be operated at their maximum power point (MPP) in order to achieve optimised performance. The maximum power point varies with illumination, radiation, temperature and other effects that produce a non-linear output efficiency. Hence, a maximum power point tracker (MPPT) system is used to vary the operating point so that the solar cells are able to deliver maximum power achievable. A single MPPT system usually consists of a controller and a dc-dc converter connected between the solar panels and battery. In this design, a Sepic converter is used as the the dc-dc converter. Figure shows the overall MPPT system inside this design.

Figure 16: SEPIC Plus MPPT

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4.1 MPPT Controller

In this simulation design, the controller consists of components that vary with that of actual components found in the market. This is due to the simplicity that is given in the simulation software. The components in the simulation includes a multiplier, differentiators, an XOR logic gate and a D flip-flop as shown in Figure

Figure 17: Description Of MPPT System

The multiplier is used to calculate the power of the solar cells by multiplying the voltage and current signals from the solar cells itself. In this design, a voltage and current sensor is used to sense the incoming signals and is then passed through the multiplier. The power signal, derived from the multiplier, and the voltage signal will then go through separate differentiators. If the power is increasing, the differentiator would output a negative value and if the power is decreasing, the differentiator would output a positive value. Similarly, the voltage signal is passed through the same process.

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From the circuit referred in Figure 17, the outputs of differentiators dV/dt and dP/dt were fed into a comparator. The comparators operate in such a way that it compares both the differentiated signals with respect to ground, and switches the output to indicate which is larger. The comparator would output a positive 1 value if the differentiated value is positive and output a zero if the differentiated value is negative, smaller than ground. Once both outputs of the comparators have been generated, the signals will then be fed to an XOR Logic Gate. The truth table of an XOR gate referred to the circuit in Figure, is shown in Figure

Figure 18: MMPT

Figure 19: Logic Gates

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The output signal of the XOR Logic gate is often undesirable to be fed to the gate driver of the transistor due to its high frequency switching which is unsuitable for the DC-DC converter. Hence, a D Flip-Flop is used as a device to send the signal to the gate driver with its input signal received from the XOR Logic gate to prevent the high frequency switching from happening. A D Flip-Flop is also considered in this design due to its simplicity.

4.2 Perturb & Observe (P&O) Algorithm

The components in the MPPT Controller are used to track the MPP by using the Perturb & Observe (P&O) method. This method is also often referred to as the hillclimbing method as it depends on the rise of the power versus voltage curve below the MPP point and also the fall of the curve which is beyond that point. This well-known algorithm is the most commonly used in industries and due to its simplicity and robustness, it is implemented in this system design.

Figure 20: Result

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Figure 20 shows the P-V curve of the solar panel. It can be seen that the maximum power is operating at an estimated of 595W and the maximum voltage to be around 17.5V.

In Figure, the slope of dp/dv is positive when the voltage of the solar cell is lower than the voltage of the maximum power point, V<Vmpp. The slope of dp/dv is negative when the voltage of the solar cell is larger than the voltage of the maximum power point, V>Vmpp.

Basically the P&O algorithms states that when the operating voltage of the PV curve is perturbed by a small increment and if the resulting change in power is positive, the signal is heading in the direction of MPP.

Similarly, if the voltage of PV curve is perturbed by a small increment and the change in power is negative, we are heading opposite to that of the maximum point as shown in point 2 in Figure 20 above and the perturbation sign has to be changed.

Taking operating point 1 as a reference point, the slope is positive and hence the voltage V2 should be increase to flow in the direction of the maximum power as indicated by the arrow at point 1. Now taking operating point 2 as a reference point, the slope is negative and hence the voltage V2 should be decreased to flow in the direction of the maximum power as indicated by the arrow at point 2.

The voltage V2 is increased or decreased by charging or discharging of capacitors respectively. This charging and discharging process is controlled by the gate driver that switches the transistor. The overall process of the MPPT controller is shown in Table.

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Figure 21: Result Table

The voltage and current flowing through the load resistor R6, which acts as a battery in this simulation phase, is shown in Figure.

Figure 22: MPPT Waveform

From Figure 22, it is observed that the voltage and current flowing through the load resistor is approximately 12.15V and 30A respectively. From the results we obtained, we can conclude the power across the load resistor is approximately 364.5W. Hence, it can be deduce that the MPPT controller is working correctly.

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4.3 Hardware Aspects Of Controller

As mentioned earlier, the MPPT Controller in the simulation is simplified due to the PSIM software and technically some of the components are not found in the market especially the voltage, current sensors and differentiator block set that are used in the system design.

In reference to real life application, the voltage sensor can be deduced by using an op amp which functions as a voltage follower. The voltage follower is a unity gain buffer as the output follows the input voltage. The voltage of the solar cell is connected to a voltage divider before being fed into the voltage follower. The LM318 op amp can be used as the voltage follower.

Figure 23: LM318 Op-Amp (Source: www.texasinstruments.com )

The current sensor can be replaced by using a voltage inverter. The current of the solar panel can be measured in terms of the voltage of the solar panel with a small resistor value. The input into the voltage inverter is negative of solar current multiply with a value sensing resistor Rs as shown in Figure 24.

Figure 24: General Circuit 28

The output voltage can then be expressed in terms of current via the following equation:

The LM318 can be used as the op-amp of the voltage inverter. The analog multiplier exists in the market and AD633 multiplier can be used in this design.

Figure 25: LM318 Datasheet

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The differentiator in the design can be replaced by another op-amp. This design can be achieved by connecting a capacitor in series with the op-amp and a resistor at the feedback. The power and voltage measured can be approximately differentiated using the high-pass filter. The LM318 op-amp can be used as the differentiator circuit. So far, the LM318 op-amp can be used in various applications as mentioned earlier. As for the comparator, it would be advisable to use the LM311 op-amp due to its fast response.

Figure 26: LM311 Op-Amp (Source: www.texasinstruments.com )

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Chapter 5 Battery
A-lead acid battery has to be designed in this system due to unavailability of readymade batteries in PSIM. The battery used in this system design is 12V Powersonic battery at a rated 28 amperehour (Ah). There are various existing designs to model a battery. In this system design, we are incorporating Z.M. Salamehs battery model design which takes into account the dynamics during the charging and discharging phase. Figure 28, shows the schematic of the model of the battery.

Figure 27: Powersonic Battery (Source: Powersonic Datasheet)

Figure 28: Battery PSIM Circuit

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The voltage across the capacitor Cbat represents the open circuit voltage of the battery.

Resistor Rsd represents the self-discharge resistance of the battery. Ric and Rid both represents the internal resistance during the charging and discharging phase respectively.

Resistors Rod and Roc represents the over-discharge and over-charge resistance respectively.

All these parameters mentioned are needed to be evaluated. However, only some of these parameters which includes the Cbat and Rsd can be calculated while the rest can only be estimated due to lack of some features in the datasheet. While the parameters of the Cbat and Rsd is calculated using the batterys own datasheet, the other parameters are estimated using another similar 12V Powersonic battery at a rated 0.8 amperehour (Ah).

The parameters estimated are as following:

Amount of total charge in a 12V 28Ah battery is:

Hence, capacitance of the battery is calculated to be:

From the datasheet, the state of charge of the battery is expected to be at 83% in 6 months at a 20C. Hence, the charge expired in due 6 months is:

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The current flowing through the resistor Rsd, IRsd, is then calculated using the following:

The voltage terminal at full charge is determined to be 14.7V as stated in the datasheet. Therefore, the self-discharge resistance Rsd is then calculated to be:

Figure 29 shows the voltage and current at terminal. It can be seen that the voltage is increasing while the current is decreasing gradually. This shows that the battery is charging and the overall system design is operational.

Figure 29: Overall Charging Result

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Conclusion
Solar Panel is one of the machines that able to trap free energy and convert into electricity. The solar cell able to trap light energy from the sun which is abundant and free and it is able to convert them into electricity to supply either a DC or AC load. Designing a solar cell can be very tricky because there are many different types of solar panel in the market and each have own unique specification. Beside the specification, we need to determine the mechanical and electrical quality of the solar panel because we do not want to design a solar circuit with a solar panel which is made from low-quality. Therefore, there are factors and characteristics when choosing solar panel because we does not only look at the quality of solar panel but we also need to look at the manufacturer company whether is it reliable or not. We will be experimenting the SEPIC DC/DC converter and MPPT to enhance the output power of the solar power. In SEPIC DC/DC converter, inductor 1 will be facing input current of 30A therefore, in real life application it will be a different situation where the inductor will consists of different inductors pair in parallel. In MPPT system, it require voltage sensor which cannot be found in the market therefore we suggest to use LM318 Op-Amp as voltage follower to turn it into voltage sensor and voltage inverter as the current sensor. As for comparator circuit in the MPPT system, we suggest to use LM311 Op-Amp due to its fast response. Our circuit have perform extremely well on charging the Powersonic Battery therefore we can conclude that we have met the requirements of charging a Powersonic Battery with the solar panel circuit which we was task to design.

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Future Recommendation
It seems that MMPT have increased the effiency of the circuit however due to the mechanical efficiency in hardware there will be a drop in the overall circuit efficiency. Using the P&O algorithm alone could affect the efficiency of the system. It may not be accurate in determining the Maximum Power Point due to some factors. Some of the factors include the rapidly varying of irradiance and the temperature of the panels. One could use a combined algorithm to increase the efficiency system if using the P&O algorithm alone is inefficient. A combined algorithm may consist of P&O method and the Incremental Conductance Method. In Incremental Conductance Method, the MPPT controller measures incremental changes in the current and voltage from the solar panel and hence predicts the effect of the change. This method requires more computation than the P&O method, however, it has the ability to track changes more rapidly than the P&O method.

In most battery charger, there are battery charging indicator where this indicator will inform us whether the battery have fully charged. This will be a very useful device so as to prevent any overcharging or discharging of the battery which could lead to overheating or fire breakout. The battery life span might be reduced drastically or damaged if it comes to that situation. With all this improvements, this circuit might one day be manufacture and be a useful device to the public and the environment.

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References
[1]http://www.qrg.northwestern.edu/projects/vss/docs/power/1-what-aresolar-panels.html [2] http://us.sunpowercorp.com/solar-resources/performance-reliability/solarefficiency/ [3] http://science.yourdictionary.com/articles/how-do-solar-panels-work.html [4] http://www.energymatters.com.au/choosing-solar-panels.php [5] Mohamed Azab(2009). Title: Improved Circuit Model of Photovoltaic Array [6] http://org.ntnu.no/solarcells/pages/introduction.php [7] http://pveducation.org/pvcdrom/solar-cell-operation/short-circuit-current [8] Jeff Falin(2008). Title: Designing DC/DC converters based on sepic TOPOLOGY. Available at http://www.ti.com/lit/an/slyt309/slyt309.pdf [9] NTU EEE, EE4504 lecture notes [10]http://datasheet.octopart.com/PG-12V28FR-Power-Sonic-datasheet13755544.pdf [11] Ziyad M. Salameh et all, A Mathematical Model for Lead-Acid Batteries IEEE Transactions on Energy Conversion, Vol. 7, No.1, March 1992 [12] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maximum_power_point_tracking [13]http://ecee.colorado.edu/~ecen4517/materials/refs/MPPT/FemiaP%26O2 005.pdf [14] ]http://www.scribd.com/doc/62626005/Mosfet-Igbt-Bjt-Difference-andApplication

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Appendix Capacitor
Capacitor 1,

Capacitor 2

37

Appendix Inductor
Inductor 1

Inductor 2

Inductor 1 This inductor can be put in series to achieve higher inductance

Inductor 2

38

Appendix Gate Driver

39

Transistor

Gate Driver

40